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Around the nation: retiree leaves traditional Chinese drawings on dirt-caked car windows
Also, teacher comes up with costly fines for his misbehaving pupils, and doctor starts his daughter early on learning about the human anatomy...using sausages
Just one of the many sketches of young women in ancient Chinese costumes done by the retired high school teacher in Chengdu, Sichuan. Photo: SCMP Pictures
CHONGQING
Welfare corrupted
A total of 561 public servants in the municipal government’s social welfare sector were investigated last year, Xinhua reports. More than half were found to have taken bribes, with more than 120 cases involving amounts of more than 500,000 yuan (HK$632,000). They took bribes from real estate developers, embezzled financial subsidies meant for farmers, and even tapped into the farmers’ medical insurances.
Flooded by fake calls
The municipal police hotline received 1.78 million fake or irrelevant calls last year, which drained public resources and affected those who really needed help, Xinhua reports. But current penalties have not deterred such callers. A man who falsely reported a terrorist attack last year received the heaviest punishment so far, which saw him jailed for 10 days and fined just 500 yuan.
GANSU
Corn thieves caught
Four people were arrested in Lingtai county, Pingliang, last week for stealing from farmers’ corn fields, the Western Economic Daily reports. Police said the gang had stolen over four tonnes of corn worth about 4,000 yuan since last month.
‘Holed up’ by traffic
Three vehicles – including a bus full of students – fell into a sinkhole on a highway in Lanzhou on Friday, Xinhua reports. Chaos ensued, but there were no casualties, traffic authorities said. The hole – about five metres wide, 20 metres long and two metres deep – could have been caused by a leaking pipeline.
GUIZHOU
Checks for fireworks
Checkpoints will be set up on provincial highways this month to cut circulation of illegal fireworks before the Lunar New Year, China News Service reports. Guizhou is one of the country’s biggest fireworks producers with many underground workshops that churn out low-quality, high-risk fireworks. Those caught illegally carrying fireworks face jail time.
Highway heroes
A Zunyi farmer and his daughter risked their lives by standing in the middle of a highway to stop a fully loaded bus from falling into a hole last week, Guizhou Business News reports. The driver applied the brakes upon seeing the pair, who were waving and running against high-speed traffic. The bus stopped just three metres before the hole, which had been caused by a landslide.
HUNAN
Blade-runner arrested
A man was arrested in Mayang county, Huaihua, on Friday for trying to take 26 butcher’s knives onboard a train, the Xiaoxiang Morning Post reports. The man said he was an ironsmith delivering goods to his customers before the pig slaughtering season. Police said he would be jailed for five days and fined 200 yuan for violating safety rules.
Lost goods given away
A Changsha man has demanded 2,000 yuan compensation from a bus driver over a missing bag containing an iPhone 6 box, Voc.com.cn reports. The man said the box did not contain an iPhone but had its charger and warranty papers. The driver said he did find a bag with some women’s clothes and an empty iPhone box, but gave it two young women who were looking for missing items at the bus company’s headquarters. The company said the driver would be held partially responsible as he did not ask the women what they were looking for.
INNER MONGOLIA
DNA identifies rapist
A man was arrested in Baotou last week for taking part in gang-raping a woman last year and subsequently impregnating her, Baotou Evening News reports. Police had earlier arrested three others involved, but their DNA did not match that of the child. The fourth man arrested has been confirmed to be the baby’s father.
Bogus bills cheap but good
Circulation of fake 10-yuan banknotes in Chifeng increased more than sevenfold last year from the year before, Hongshan Evening News reports. The local government said most people paid little attention to the authenticity of the notes because of their small value, thus allowing their circulation to increase. Some people were caught using the bogus bills for change and most could not detect them because of their high quality.
SHAANXI
Told off for hair wash
A public servant in Fengxiang county, Baoji, received an official warning on Saturday for using the office for a hair wash, Hsw.cn reports. A Weibo user said he saw the forestry bureau official washing hair in office during working hours on Friday. The county government said the official was warned and told to make a formal apology after the Weibo post was confirmed to be true. The official’s gender was not specified.
What a ‘fine’ teacher
A high school student was fined 2,000 yuan last week by his teacher who caught him smoking in the school toilet twice, Hsw.cn reports. The teacher said he had reached an agreement with all his students’ parents to discipline them by imposing financial penalties for misbehaviour. Smoking carried a 1,000 yuan fine and being late for school came with a 100 yuan penalty. The school said the teacher had collected more than 10,000 yuan from his disciplinary method and that it would make him return the money to the students’ parents immediately.
SICHUAN
Window dressing
Drawings on dirt-caked car windows by an old man in Chengdu have been lauded by mainland internet users, Chengdu Economic Daily reports. The 67-year-old retired high school teacher’s sketches, mostly of young women in ancient costumes, have gone viral with hundreds of thousands shares on social media platforms. The man said he received professional training when he was younger but gave up painting because of his poor eyesight. Some of his neighbours reportedly left their cars unwashed for months so that he would draw on them.
Early education
A Chengdu doctor has sparked controversy by using sausages to teach his young daughter the basics of anatomy, China News Service reports. The doctor taught the Primary Two girl the different parts and functions of the human gut by sticking tags all over the sausages, which he hung on his balcony in an arrangement similar to that of human intestines. His method of education found support among some, but others argued it was too extreme.
YUNNAN
Bitter news for sugar cane
Areas of Yunnan’s sugar cane plantations shrank for the first time last year because of the poor business environment, Xinhua reports. Provincial agricultural authorities said some 360,000 hectares were planted with sugar cane last year – 1.1 per cent lower than the year before. Farmers blamed the decline on falling sugar prices, which had caused losses to many sugar refineries. With limited cash flow, some refineries failed to pay farmers for their cane, which in turn hurt farmers’ incentive to expand their plantations.
Drug traffickers’ rides
Anti-narcotics law enforcers in Puer arrested three drug traffickers and seized more than 100kg of the drug Ice last week, Xinhua reports. The authorities have increased inspections at highway checkpoints near the border as they expect drug trafficking activities to rise over the Lunar New Year. The traffickers used various modes of transport, including shuttle buses, motorcycles and cargo trucks, to carry their loot.
A hawker in Luoyang, Henan, shows the seven 100 yuan bank notes, with identical serial numbers, that were passed to him in a morning's trade. Photo: SCMP Pictures
HENAN
Street hawker cheated
A hawker selling walnuts in Luoyang was delighted to earn nearly 1,000 yuan in two hours on Sunday until he discovered that 800 yuan of it was counterfeit, the Dahe Daily reports. The street seller, who was making his first sales trip to the city, said one customer had returned to buy more. He later noticed the serial numbers of seven 100 yuan notes he received were the same and he reported it to the police. Another 100 yuan note was also fake. Police suspect he had had fallen victim to a group that preys on street hawkers.
Pop concert cancelled
A concert to be held in Zhengzhou on Saturday by the Singaporean singer JJ Lin has been cancelled because of safety concerns over the venue, the news website Dahe.com reports. The event was not granted a safety permit by the authorities who highlighted problems including a faulty lighting system by an emergency exit at the Zhengzhou International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
GANSU
Exam resit 37 years on
A woman from Lanzhou has decided to try for a second time to pass the national university entrance exam 37 years after she first failed it, the Lanzhou Morning News reports. The woman, who is 58 and a retired engineer, first took the gaokao in 1978. After flunking the exam, she went on to vocational school. She now has time to devote to her own studies after her child recently graduated from university.
‘Red Guard’ restaurant
A hotpot restaurant that opened on Saturday in Pingliang features waitresses wearing Red Guard-style uniforms from the Cultural Revolution era, the news website Chinanews.com reports. Photographs posted online show the waitresses wearing green military clothing, red armbands and Communist Party badges.
GUANGXI
Schoolgirls brawl
Photographs of a hair-pulling catfight among schoolgirls in Binyang county near Nanning went viral over the weekend, the news website Thepaper.cn reports. The pictures, posted by a bystander on Friday, show teenage girls pulling hair and kicking each other after school. The local education bureau confirmed that an altercation between two girls at Silong High School triggered a full-blown brawl among them and their friends.
Body flushed down loo
A 69-year-old man from Beihai has been arrested for allegedly killing his lover, chopping her up body and flushing some of her remains down the toilet, the news website Gx.chinanews.com reports. Police discovered the crime after they received a complaint about a blocked pipe. The man is alleged to have killed his girlfriend, aged 70, after they had an argument. He allegedly dismembered the body and threw some body parts down the toilet and disposed of others in the sea. The woman had been reported missing by her family since Saturday.
HAINAN
Marathon disruption
The authorities in Haikou have been criticised for blocking major roads in the city for nine hours during Sunday’s marathon, the news website Chinanews.com reports. At least three major roads had all their lanes closed for the event. Police said roads were closed longer than planned due to the large number of amateur runners taking part in the race.
Compensation row
A group in Jiyang township have lodged an appeal after a court ruled that five women married to residents from outside the village were entitled to a share of land compensation, the news website Hainan.net reports. Villagers in charge of the area gave each resident 84,600 yuan (HK$107,000) for their collectively-owned farmland. But five women who married outsiders were excluded from the compensation deal because they were no longer regarded as village residents. The women sued and won their case. The appeal will be heard tomorrow.
HEBEI
Anger over girl’s death
Grieving relatives of a schoolgirl protested outside No12 High School in Shijiazhuang after she jumped to her death from a dormitory on Saturday, China Network InfoNews Television reports. Witnesses said the dormitory was not fitted with security windows. Police are investigating.
Tap water turns red
About 20 households in a village near Tangshan have been getting red water through their taps for a week, the Yanzhao Metropolis News reports. The polluted supplies have given residents headaches and diarrhoea. It is not clear what is contaminating the water as there are no factories nearby or obvious sources of pollution.
JIANGSU
Drowned saving fisherman
A middle-aged man drowned in Haian county near Nantong while saving a 74-year-old fisherman in a river, the news website People.com.cn reports. Chen Qun, 52, jumped into the cold water after the man’s fishing boat capsized. Witnesses said Chen dived under the surging waters several times before he grabbed the man and held him for more than 15 minutes while trying to swim back to the bank. Others pulled the older man from the river, but Chen drowned before villagers came back to help him.
Support for street cleaners
A 28-year-old man from Zhenjiang has pledged to pick up three pieces of rubbish every day after he was moved by the hard work of street cleaners and the poor way they were treated by some members of the public, the Modern Express reports. The man posts pictures of the rubbish he picks up each day on his social media account. He said he made his pledge last year after he saw a cleaner abused by a driver in a BMW because she was picking up litter in front of the car and had got in its way.
LIAONING
Burglar ‘snack addict’
A 34-year-old man was so addicted to the duck’s neck, tongue and other snacks from a store in the Jinzhou district of Dalian that he broke in and stole from it seven times before he was caught, the Dalian Evening News reports. He took 230kg of duck snacks in total, worth more than 3,000 yuan.
Grandson abandoned in shop
A shop owner in Dandong reported that a customer had abandoned a baby at her business, but later found out it was her own grandson, the Liaoshen Evening News reports. The woman had never seen the baby before and did not recognise him. The child’s mother left the child with his grandmother because her son had left her and the child.
SICHUAN
‘Silent abuse’ by wife
A court in Nanchong has rejected a man’s attempt to divorce his wife over her “silent abuse”, including her alleged refusal to do housework or to speak to him, the news website Newssc.org reports. The judge dismissed the case on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
Girl leaps to death
A 14-year-old girl jumped to her death from a sixth-floor flat in Chengdu after she was scolded by her parents on Saturday, the news website Youth.cn reports. The teenager left a four-page suicide note expressing her frustration at always letting her parents down. She died at the scene after attempts to revive her failed.
The suspects allegedly sold meat from diseased Chinese pigs to markets in 11 provinces, including Henan and Guangxi. Photo: Felix Wong
China has arrested more than 110 people who are suspected of selling pork from pigs that died from disease and confiscated more than 1,000 tonnes of contaminated pork in its latest crackdown on food safety violations.
The Ministry of Public Security said yesterday the people were part of a network made up of 11 groups that, since 2008, had been buying pigs that had died of illnesses from livestock farms at low prices.
The meat was allegedly sold to markets in 11 provinces, including Henan and Guangxi, or was processed into bacon or cooking oil for sale.
The accused also bribed food supervisory authorities to obtain quarantine certificates, the ministry said.
At least 75 of the suspects have been prosecuted.
The ministry, which has been investigating the network since the end of 2013, said several food quarantine staff had also been sent to prosecutors.
Food safety remains a major concern in China after a series of high-profile scandals that has involved tainted milk powder as well as donkey meat.
The scandals have embroiled foreign corporations such as Wal-Mart Stores and McDonald’s.
In 2013, more than 10,000 dead pigs were found floating in Shanghai’s Huangpu river after the regional government cracked down on criminal gangs that had been selling abandoned carcasses as meat on the black market, fuelling overcrowding on farms.
China’s top food watchdog said last Wednesday food and drug safety was “grim” and pledged stronger oversight.
Police in Henan province said a man, filmed by a surveillance camera, is suspected of stealing cash and sex toys worth more than 10,000 yuan from eight Luoyang sex shops in one night. Photo: Dahe Daily
HENAN
Sex shop burglaries
Police in Luoyang are looking for a man who stole cash and sex toys worth more than 10,000 yuan from eight sex shops in one night, Dahe Daily reports. One business said five of its stores had the doors pried open and the cash in the sex-toy vending machines stolen. Surveillance footage proved it was the same man who carried out the thefts.
Injured in TV fight
A kick-boxer from Huaiyang county near Zhoukou put a martial arts master in hospital after the two had a bout broadcast on television, the news website Eastday.com reports. The martial arts expert fractured a rib after he was kicked in the chest. The fight was broadcast from a television station in Tianjin.
JIANGSU
Woman saved in river
A university student in Nanjing jumped into a freezing river to save a naked woman who was trying to kill herself, the Southern Metropolis News reports. Photographs taken by witnesses show the man scrambling to the top of the two-metre riverbank alone as people rushed to check on the condition of the woman. She was said to be suffering from a mental illness.
Salon used fake Botox
The owner of a beauty salon in Xuzhou that used fake Botox medications and cosmetics has been convicted of selling counterfeit drugs, the news website Jschina.com.cn reports. The police tested samples of the wrinkle-removing Botox injection after receiving complaints from customers and found it was fake. The salon owner will be sentenced at a later date.
CHONGQING
Airliner door scare
A passenger on board a West Air flight from Lhasa to the municipality opened the emergency door shortly after the aircraft landed on Monday evening, the Chongqing Daily reports. Photographs taken by witnesses at the airport showed the emergency slide deployed. An initial investigation suggested the man was seated next to the door and might have opened it by accident.
Boy causes drains blast
A seven-year-old from the Jiulongpo district of the municipality threw firecrackers into a manhole and blew off its cover, injuring an elderly person passing by, the news website Chinanews.com reports. Witnesses said the blast was so powerful that the sign of a nearby restaurant fell to the ground. Police said methane in the drain was ignited by the firecracker.
GUANGDONG
Police deny killing
Police in Shaoguan have denied allegations circulating on social media that a man died after he was tortured and abused at a police station, the news website Chinanews.com reports. The posts said the man, who was arrested last year for soliciting a prostitute, had been strapped to a bench and denied food. Police said they had gone through surveillance footage with the man’s relatives to prove there had been no wrongdoing. A forensic report said the man probably died of a heart attack.
Ex-wife ‘hired hitman’
A woman from Zhuhai has been arrested for allegedly hiring a hitman to kill her ex-husband’s girlfriend with a poisoned dart, the Guangzhou Daily reports. Police allege that the man was paid 120,000 yuan (HK$151,810) to shoot the poison into the woman. The dart failed to pierce the girlfriend’s fur coat.
HAINAN
‘Attacked with hot oil’
A municipal security officer from Haikou was allegedly splashed with boiling cooking oil after he tried to drive away two hawkers who had set up a food stall outside a village government building, the Nanguo Metropolis Daily reports. One of the sellers scooped up the oil with a spoon and threw it at the officer’s face, according to two other security officials at the scene.
Archivist led beating
The head of the archive bureau in Chengmai county has been detained for 15 days after he led a gang of 10 people who beat up a village official, the news website Hinews.cn reports. The man was angry because the official had ordered villagers to cut down six bamboo trees he had planted which were blocking traffic.
HEILONGJIANG
Trapped in new flats
Dozens of households who moved into an apartment block in Harbin before construction was finished have been trapped inside the building since Friday after builders welded the front door to its frame, the website chinanews.com reports. Friends and relatives have had to pass food and water through ground floor windows, according to the report. Residents have called the police, but were told to communicate directly with the developers.
Fled from kitchen fire
Neighbours had to call the fire brigade after a man from Harbin fled from his apartment after a cooking gas cylinder caught fire, the new website Xinnews.my399.com reports. Neighbours said they saw heavy smoke rising from a window. Firefighters put out the blaze.
JILIN
TV copycats row
High school fans of the Chinese version of the popular TV show, Running Man, have angered customers and staff at a mall in Changchun after they organised their own version of the programme at the shopping centre, the news website Xinhuanet.com reports. The programme involves contestants carrying out a series of races and stunts and it debuted on mainland TV last year. Pupils from various high schools have gathered at the Saide shopping mall to copy the show’s format. Customers said it was disturbing to have dozens of teenagers running around.
Online shopping scam
A university freshman from Changchun was swindled out of more than 2,000 yuan by a fake online part-time job agency, the news website Chinajilin.com.cn reports. The student was offered a post to give good reviews to an online shop. He was promised all the goods he bought would be refunded and he would be paid 40 yuan for each purchase and review. He spent more than 2,000 yuan on four products, but could not contact the agency to ask for a refund and payments.
XINJIANG
Revenge arson attack
Urumqi police have arrested a man who allegedly set fire to the apartment of his employers after several attempts to get unpaid wages failed, the news website Chinanews.com reports. No casualties were reported. Police said the man confessed to pouring flammable banana oil through the front door’s peephole and setting fire to the flat.
Gang sold fake rail tickets
Urumqi police have arrested a gang who allegedly made and sold counterfeit train tickets, Xinjiang Television reports. The police captured the four in a rented apartment after receiving complaints from passengers.
A foot-and-mouth outbreak has been reported among cattle in Wuhan. Photo: AP
Hubei
Foot-and-mouth outbreak
An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has been reported in cattle in Wuhan, the news website Cnhubei.com reports. The local authority confirmed that 54 cattle at a farm in Huangpi district were infected with the disease.
Pregnant, left standing
A social media post by a man from Wuhan explaining why he did not give up his seat to a pregnant woman on the subway has gone viral, the news website Cnhubei.com reports. The man fell asleep on the train and woke to find a pregnant woman standing next to him and passengers taking photographs with their mobile phones. He said he was asleep before she arrived and he was afraid he would be labelled as a rude passenger.
Chongqing
'Body' was drink-driver
A cleaner helped capture a man wanted for drink-driving after she saw him sleeping on a lawn, thought he was dead and called the police, the Chongqing Morning Post reports. Officers woke the man and found he was a drunk-driver who had fled after taking a breath test.
Health records revealed
The human resources department of a company in the municipality published details of its staff's medical check-ups on its internal website, the Chongqing Morning Post reports. One young man diagnosed with inflammation of the prostate said he was now too embarrassed to go to the company toilets. The owner of the firm, which was not named, has taken the medical test details down, but said that he thought the initiative would remind the employees to pay more attention to their personal health.
Fujian
Hi-tech car thieves
Police in Nanan have arrested three alleged thieves who used a radio transmitter to silently block drivers from successfully locking their cars with remote-control car keys, the Strait City Daily reports. They then stole from the vehicles after the owners walked away. Police traced the trio after checking surveillance video outside a jewellery shop where an Audi driver had a cellphone and some jewellery stolen from what he believed was a locked car.
Shame over missing boy
A lost three-year-old toddler was left alone at a police station in Xindian county for over two hours on Thursday because his grandfather felt too ashamed to report the boy missing, the Southeast Express reports. The old man took the boy out for a ride on a bike, but lost him. He stopped his daughter-in-law from calling the police for fear that the news would spread in the neighbourhood. The man eventually allowed the family to call the authorities.
Henan
Fake 'wanted' poster
A man in Zhengzhou put up fake wanted posters to trace a woman he met online who he claimed had stolen money from him, the Dahe Daily reports. The poster said that a "beautiful 26-year-old woman" was involved in a burglary worth 200,000 yuan (HK$253,000) last December. It offered 10,000 yuan as a reward for information. Officers said that the man may have broken the law by issuing a fake police notice.
Dead after 2.5 yuan row
An elderly man from Jiyuan died after getting into an argument with a friend over 2.5 yuan, the news website Dahe.cn reports. The men and two others had chipped in 5 yuan each to visit a shrine, but one made his way home on his own and asked one of his friends for a 2.5 yuan refund. The friend gave back the money after a heated row, but then started shaking, collapsed foaming at the mouth and lost consciousness. He died later in hospital.
Hunan
Pupils charged to sleep
A high school in Yueyang charges pupils 1 yuan a day to take a nap, the news website Thepaper.cn reports. The school has made it compulsory to take a one-hour sleep from 12.40pm to 13.40pm in the classroom and charges pupils 138 yuan each term. The school said the money was to cover the expense of teachers on duty during nap time. A member of staff at the local price supervision bureau said the school could only charge if they provided beds. The bureau said it was looking into the matter.
Dishes cleaned with mop
An undercover investigation has alleged that a hotpot restaurant in Changsha sold leftover food and washed dishes with a floor mop, the Xiao Xiang Chen Bao reports. The newspaper's undercover reporter, who worked in the restaurant for about two weeks, was instructed to wash leftover ingredients so they could be used again. The reporter also spotted colleagues washing dishes with a mop that was used to clean in the toilets.
Shandong
Cellar burglar caught
A man who allegedly broke into 40 cellars in Jinan in a month has been caught, Life Daily reports. During the break-ins he only took two bottles of wine and a can of oil. The man, who is 30 and unemployed, threw away the wine and oil after he could not get a good price for them.
Poker game fight
A card player from Yucheng who allegedly beat up a man during a poker game has been arrested, the news website Iqilu.com reports. The man got angry because the victim of the attack was standing behind the card players and constantly offered tips. The man fled after the attack last month, but was finally arrested.
Sichuan
'Poor service' from hitman
A woman from Nanchong complained to the police about the poor service she had received from a contractor, but officers later discovered that she was complaining about the lack of action from a hitman she hired to kill her husband, the West China City Daily reports. She has been arrested. The woman said her husband beat her and she paid a man she found online 29,700 yuan to kill him. She got angry after nothing happened and called the police without detailing what she had paid for. Police had already arrested the conman for fraud.
Home sought for strays
A couple in Chengdu who have been taking care of 60 stray cats and dogs for a decade have spent all their savings and are looking for people to adopt them, the West China City Daily reports. The husband picked up their first stray cat in 2005 after he saw it trapped on a roof. The couple said they would only let the animals go to good homes.
Zhejiang
Gambler tried for fraud
A gambler from Wenzhou has gone on trial for allegedly swindling a woman out of over 300,000 yuan to play the lottery, the Qianjiang Evening News reports. The man borrowed money several times, but kept making excuses about paying it back. A verdict in the case has yet to be announced.
Drunk bit 8 cops
A drunk couple have been arrested after the husband allegedly bit eight police officers in Shaoxing who tried to stop them from vandalising a traffic barrier in the middle of a road, the Qianjiang Evening News reports. The couple had a fight at a friend's birthday party and took it out on the traffic barriers. Onlookers called the police. The man refused to let go of the barriers and allegedly kicked and bit the officers. His wife joined in the brawl after the police called for back-up, scratching them with her nails. The police officers suffered only minor injuries.
A new WeChat feature showing a cascade of US flags, apparently commemorating Martin Luther King Day in the United States, has provoked the ire of Communist Party authorities.
Chinese mobile users were surprised to see icons of the Star-Spangled Banner "rain down" their app screen whenever they typed the words “civil rights” in conversations with friends.
WeChat, developed and operated by internet giant Tencent, apologised on Monday, saying the feature was only supposed to be available to US users, but technical errors resulted in it being available to Chinese users.
"Due to some backstage errors, it has been available to all WeChat users," it said this afternoon. "We apologise for any misunderstandings caused."
The new feature only appeared in the past few days, seemingly to mark the birthday of King, an African-American civil rights activist and Nobel laureate who espoused civil disobedience and led protests against racial discrimination in America.
The US-flag icons would appear whenever WeChat users type the words “civil rights” in conversations with friends.
Martin Luther King Day is a US federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday of January each year.
On social media, Chinese officials earlier slammed the add-on as inappropriate for WeChat to roll out a feature for a US public holiday and not "patriotic" Chinese ones.
“[We] also tried keywords like ‘National Day’, ‘China’, and ‘Five-Starred Red Flag’ [the national flag of China], but nothing happens!” the Committee of the Communist Youth League in southern Fujian province said in a Weibo post.
“What are your intentions?” the league said, questioning WeChat’s decision.
The league is chiefly responsible for cultivating elite Chinese youth who aspire to become fully-fledged members of the party. Joining the youth league is considered crucial to joining the party itself.
The "flying emoticons" feature has been available to millions of WeChat users worldwide for some time, which recognises keywords such as "Happy Birthday" or "Christmas" in people's chat messages and fills the chat screen with emoticons fitting the occasion or mood.
"Keywords that trigger falling emoticons can also be specific to your country and the unique occasions you celebrate," said WeChat on its official English-language blog in a November 2014 post.
As of Monday afternoon, the league’s comment on Weibo has been reposted more than 6,500 times and elicited some 2,600 comments from users.
Several of the league’s supporters accused WeChat of “pandering to the United States”.
Others were nonplussed, saying communist authorities were overreacting. “What’s so important about this? Why does everything have to be politicised?” a user said on Weibo.
After the debate erupted over the weekend, some users reported the feature had been taken down as of Monday morning – but many others said it was still working.
Rescue workers climb a 30-metre transmission tower in Zhengzhou to rescue a chef upset over a colleague's criticism of his cooking. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Henan
Chef takes in-salt to heart
A chef in Zhengzhou threatened to leap from an electrical transmission tower after a colleague complained that his food was too salty, Dahe Daily reports. The chef – in his 30s and a father of two – was later spotted near the top of the 30-metre tower that carries 110,000-volt cables. He ignored pleas from his wife and boss, but agreed to come down only after the colleague apologised via a police megaphone. He was helped down from the tower by firefighters.
Outpouring of sympathy
Newspaper readers have opened their hearts and wallets for an eight-year-old village boy who suffers from a crippling and incurable skin disorder, Dahe Daily reports. More than 59,000 yuan (HK$74,500) in donations has come in since Sunday, two days after his story was reported. Song Liucheng, from Shuangqiu county, suffers epidermolysis bullosa, a congenital condition that makes his skin blister easily.
Beijing
Drink-driving blitz
Drink-driving has caused 17 fatal traffic accidents in the capital since mid-December, prompting more random roadside testing by traffic police, the Beijing Times reports. More social activities ahead of the Lunar New Year might have contributed to the higher toll, the authorities said. An anti-drink-driving campaign started on Friday and will last until after the holiday next month.
Hot and cold
Beijing has entered the 15-day period known on the traditional almanac as the Big Cold, but this year has been abnormally warm, Beijing Daily reports. Temperatures could reach 5 or 6 degrees Celsius this week, when it is usually below freezing. Meteorologists said weak polar cold fronts caused the warmer weather. But abnormally cold weather was forecast this week for northwestern and central regions from Inner Mongolia to Yunnan .
Hebei
After-school nursery
Twenty primary schools will experiment with “baby-sitting” pupils whose parents’ work schedules don’t allow them to collect the children straight after school, the Yanzhao Evening News reports. Education officials in Shijiazhuang said the pupils would be allowed to stay an extra two hours. If successful, the scheme would be extended to other schools.
Anti-graft crackdown
Nearly 20,000 government officials were punished in the province’s anti-graft campaign last year, 50 per cent more than in 2013, Hebei Daily reports. Thirty-nine senior officials were investigated or prosecuted, more than the total for the previous 10 years.
Hubei
Hotel robber booked
A man who robbed a hotel in Wuhan with a toy gun was caught the next day, news site News.cnhubei.com reports. He had threatened a receptionist and fled with about 2,000 yuan in cash. Police in Ezhou stopped a suspicious man the next day, who turned out to be the robber. He confessed and is in police custody.
Driver incurs wrath
A driver in Hankou who swerved off a road, almost hitting two elderly pedestrians whom he then berated, abandoned his car and fled when an angry crowd started telling him off, the Chutian Metropolis Daily reports. One of the passers-by called the police. The woman pedestrian, 69, said she smelled alcohol on the driver’s breath.
Liaoning
Special delivery
A new taxi driver in Shenyang got a big surprise on his first shift when a woman gave birth to a boy on the back seat on Friday, the Shenyang Evening News reports. The passenger did not reveal her urgent condition at first for fear she would be refused, the 51-year-old driver said. A traffic officer came to his aid and guided him to a nearby hospital. Mother and son were reported to be well.
Ski run for kids
The mainland’s first snow ski run exclusively for children will open in Shenyang tomorrow, the Commercial Times reports. Young skiers were exposed to high risks when sharing the same run with adults, who were bigger and moved faster, the operator said. The new run will accommodate 500 children.
Shanxi
Cadres punished
More than 40 village cadres in Luliang have been punished for election scandals that happened last year, Shanxi Daily reports. Ten people were prosecuted and 34 others were officially warned. The cadres had disrupted village elections by offering bribes for votes or threatening violence.
Don’t do that voodoo
An anti-superstition campaign is under way in rural areas after swindlers, described as a cult by officials, started taking money from naïve villagers, Shanxi Daily reports. The provincial government said the fraudsters passed themselves off as fung shui masters or witch doctors. Government officers will visit villages to promote the ideas of modern science and gather intelligence on the “cult”.
Sichuan
Self-serving thieves
Police in Shifang have arrested four people suspected of stealing 10 tonnes of petrol in December, Newssc.org reports. The fuel was estimated to be worth more than 110,000 yuan. Staff at the station noticed the petrol was missing when they were about to fill up a car and saw that the tank was empty, even though there were 10 tonnes in storage the day before. Surveillance footage show a truck had pulled in at 1am and left four hours later. Police seized 56 oil drums they said were used in the heist.
Gold gone in a minute
Police are investigating a major robbery in Leshan that took only a minute, the West China City Daily reports. A man with a bag and motorcycle helmet entered a gold shop on Sunday and threatened four staff with what looked like a gun. He escaped with jewellery worth about 700,000 yuan.
Zhejiang
Dumb and dumber
Police in Yiwu have arrested a thief who uploaded photos of himself lighting cigarettes with burning banknotes, the City Express reports. The 42-year-old man boasted: “I can’t help it. All I have is money.” He shared photos of stolen cash, iPads and gold rings with friends. He bought cigarettes with a stolen stored-value card, while security footage showed him wearing the same outfit when he robbed a man’s house earlier this month.
Be hardy if you’re tardy
A woman boss of an advertising firm in Hangzhou has a novel punishment for late workers – burpees and squats – Hznews.hangzhou.com.cn reports. She said docking their pay “wasn’t fun enough” so for every minute late past 9.30am, a male worker had to do one burpee and a female worker one squat. Last Monday, one man had to do 27 burpees and a woman did 59 squats. By Friday, no one was late.
Diners visiting a new restaurant in Shenyang, Liaoning, have a winter-only option of being serving in an igloo. The interior is heated enough to prevent diners from freezing, but not so warm to melt the surroundings. Photo: SCMP Pictures
LIAONING
Dining on the rocks
A new restaurant in Shenyang is offering diners a seasonal choice of dining in a giant outdoor igloo, Xinhua reports. The structure, made of 500 ice bricks, seats from four to 10 diners. The interior is heated so customers won’t freeze.
Kitten saves mother
A vet has saved a 15-year-old rare breed cat by tracking down one of its kittens born a decade ago to provide an urgent blood transfusion, the Shenyang Evening News reports. The vet located the kitten via an appeal for help on Weibo after two earlier transfusions that failed. China does not have blood banks for pets, unlike the US and the UK, making transfusions difficult. The elder cat was suffering from kidney failure, anaemia and pancreatitis. After the transfusion, she regained her strength considerably.
CHONGQING
800 officials punished
More than 800 officials were punished for violating party discipline – a euphemism for corruption – in the municipality last year, the Chongqing Morning Post reports. Most cases involved lavish weddings for offspring, extravagant restaurant dining, the use of government cars for private purposes, overseas travel and gambling – all paid for with public funds.
Dampener on open fires
Burning firewood at restaurants will be banned to help reduce air pollution, the Chongqing Morning Post reports. While many diners believed food cooked over a wood fire tasted better, officials said wood smoke was an important source of air pollutants. Violators face fines of up to 20,000 yuan (HK$25,500).
FUJIAN
Projects ‘worth 3tr yuan’
Total investment in large infrastructure projects is expected to top 3 trillion yuan this year, most of it in the province’s new free trade zone, the National Business Daily reports. More than 80 projects are on the books, including expressways, metro lines, high-speed rail and new airports. Three nuclear power plants are also under construction. The Fujian Free Trade Zone aims to boost trade with Taiwan.
Mauled over fake mall
A former government official in charge of an urban demolition project in Fuzhou has been arrested for “destroying” a shopping mall that did not exist, the Southeast Express News reports. The former director of house demolition projects in Jinshan district claimed more than 10 million yuan in government compensation in 2008 by forging documents proving the building’s existence. But investigators said archived satellite images could not find the building.
GUANGXI
Two maim dog in scam
Two men were arrested in Liujiang county last week for using a wounded dog as bait to extort money, Gxnews.cn reports. The suspects broke the legs of a dog then placed it on a road. When a driver stopped to assist the injured animal, the men came out and accused the victim of stealing their dog. The driver paid them 1,500 yuan under the threat of violence. The suspects were later arrested and confessed to the crime.
Billboard danger zone
About 60 per cent of advertising billboards along local expressways are illegal and pose safety risks to drivers, the Nanguo Morning News reports. Provincial traffic authorities found that only 500 of more than 1,200 highway billboards were officially approved. Most of the illegal signs were made with cheap materials by villagers and sometimes fell on to the road in strong winds, a hazard to drivers. A billboard can generate 200,000 yuan revenue a year.
HAINAN
10kg of drugs, guns seized
Police seized 10kg of drugs and arrested 13 armed drug trafficking suspects in Haikou last week, Xinhua reports. Police allege that the drugs were bought in Shenzhen and redistributed throughout Hainan . Anti-narcotics officers raided the ring’s headquarters at a small hotel in Haikou a week ago and found the drugs, mostly ketamine, and a cache of homemade guns and bullets. Police said it was the third large drugs bust in the island province since December.
40pc of power from wind
Forty per cent of Hainan’s energy production came from renewable sources last year, more than double the proportion of just a few years ago, the Hainan Daily reports. Much of the increase came from seven large wind farms that were upgraded with enormous investment by state-owned energy firms. Authorities were confident of reducing coal power generation, and expected Hainan’s first nuclear power plant, in Changjiang, to start operating this year.
HEBEI
Divorce plot backfires
A man from Cangzhou divorced his wife to escape traffic fines only to find out his wife really did want to dump him, Report.hebei.com.cn reports. Last June, the man drove while intoxicated and seriously injured another person. The victim then demanded damages. The man and his wife cooked up a plan where they would divorce, leaving her with the house and all the money, so he could claim that he could not pay. Last week, when he called his wife to talk about getting remarried, she said she had found a new love. He called the police, who said they could not help but told him to go to court.
Girls, 13, dies at protest
A girl, 13, died in Jinzhou after falling from a 16-storey building while trying to help her father claim unpaid wages from a construction company, the Beijing News reports. Workers who claimed they had never been paid had gathered at the site to protest their demands, when the girl and an old woman, believed to be her grandmother, were seen at the top of the building. It’s not known if the girl jumped or fell, but her body missed the giant inflatable cushion set up by police and firefighters below.
HUNAN
Swan numbers down
The number of migratory swans on Dongting Lake this winter has fallen to below 1,600 individuals, half the number of last year, the China News Service reports. Food shortages could be the main reason, conservation experts said. The water level in the lake dropped last year, severely affecting the birds’ main food sources. The lake lies south of the Yangtze River and covers some 200,000 hectares, making it one of China’s most important wetlands.
Popular gateway
A record 500,000 foreigners chose Hunan as their entry point to China last year, more than Anhui , Henan , Hubei , Jiangxi and Shanxi combined, the China News Service reports. By far the largest group of visitors were South Koreans, numbering more than 400,000. Overseas visitors, whose numbers grew 35 per cent from 2013, came mainly for business and tourism.
ZHEJIANG
Seize-the-carp day
A truck overturned near Jinhua scattering a tonne of carp across a highway, the Qianjiang Evening News reports. Passersby jumped railings to scoop up the flopping fish, only to be chased away by police who piled the fish into a nearby ditch so the owner could haul them out. The man bred the carp at his home in Jinhua and was taking them to market in Yiwu when the truck blew a tyre.
Remedy worse than cure
A 63-year-old man from Yinzhou district who ate a large fish gallbladder almost died from poisoning, the Qianjiang Evening News reports. The man believed eating the organ would improve his vision, remove toxins, and lower his blood pressure. Last week, the man bought a large fish for 190 yuan, removed the thumb-sized organ from this fish, crushed it in a bowl and swallowed it whole. Over the next two days he suffered diarrhoea and vomiting, and his stomach became swollen. A doctor who treated the man said his liver and kidneys were impaired and that his heart and nervous system would have been damaged had he not been treated in time.
A man high on drugs thought he was proposing to popular Chinese actress Fan Bingbing (pictured), but it turned out to be his colleague. Photo: SCMP Pictures
BEIJING
Harmful fake drugs seized
Beijing police seized nearly 600 million yuan (HK$758 million) of counterfeit food and drugs and arrested 760 people involved in the trade last year, Xinhua reports. The knock-off goods – mostly sold as health products that stimulate weight loss or improve sexual performance – severely threatened the health of those who took them as they contained harmful chemicals, the authorities said.
Last pet market to shut
Beijing authorities have ordered the city’s last downtown pet market to close after January 1 next year, the Legal Evening News reports. The market, near Taoranting Park in the south, sells a wide range of animals including fish, birds and crickets. Beijing has been shutting down its pet markets in recent years as animal rights activists’ protests over the pets’ living conditions have affected the city’s image.
FUJIAN
‘High’ time for marriage
A hallucinating man in Jinjiang, Quanzhou, declared his love for his colleague, believing that she was the popular Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, Chinanews.com reports. Police found the 27-year-old kneeling beside a car with the woman seated inside, declaring that he wanted to present her with roses and propose to her. Officers detained him for five days after a urine test confirmed that he had been taking drugs.
Child’s play goes wrong
A child in Fuqing, Fuzhou, accidentally burned down a villa on Tuesday after playing with a lighter, online news site Strait City Daily reports. Firefighters managed to get the flames under control within 10 minutes, but everything in the villa had already been reduced to ashes by the time the blaze was put out. No one was hurt.
GUANGXI
Armed man knocked down
A teacher ran over an armed man with a car on Tuesday after the man rushed into a secondary school in Beihai intending to hurt the pupils, Sina.com.cn reports. The 34-year-old man from Qinzhou, who was drunk and carrying a knife, was subdued by the time police arrived. No one was hurt and police are investigating.
Dogs’ dinner
Dogs may have feasted on the body of their owner, who lived alone in a Nanning village, after he died, Modern Life Daily reports. Neighbours found the 65-year-old man’s body, with parts missing, lying on the bloodstained kitchen floor and his two dogs nearby. They suspected the hungry dogs might have eaten parts of the body as there were no signs a struggle had taken place. The man’s son, who lives outside the village, returned to arrange for his father’s funeral but declined to involve the police.
HENAN
Studious sperm donors
Students and teachers are the Henan provincial sperm bank’s most active donors, the Henan Business Daily reports. About 60 per cent of the bank’s new sperm was from students and more than 30 per cent from teachers. But the quality of the students’ sperm was much higher than that of the teachers, the bank said. The donors tended to be more open-minded than the general population and also had more time on their hands, it added.
Setting low standards
The Henan government has targeted just 190 non-polluting days in its humble plan to cut air pollution in the province this year, the Henan Daily reports. Last year, the province had already recorded 199 “blue sky” days by the end of the first nine months, thanks to its slowing economy. Bigger cities such as Zhengzhou saw considerably fewer clean-air days than the smaller ones.
JILIN
Thriving exports
Jilin city’s export business grew 64 per cent last year even as the province’s overall economy struggled, Chinajilin.com.cn reports. A few large firms – mainly in the chemical, steel, machinery and pharmaceutical sectors – contributed strongly to the city’s US$851 million (HK$6.6 billion) exports. The city government said the export business would be given more incentives to keep up the growth.
Closing the income gap
The Changchun city government has paired 10,000 of its poorest families to 10,000 government officials in an effort to narrow the city’s widening income gap, the Changchun Daily reports. The officials have been tasked to do whatever they can to improve the families’ economic situation and living standards within three years, and are required to visit them at least three times a year.
SHAANXI
Drink-driving cop held
A policeman in Yulin city faces serious punishment after he injured three civilians by driving a police car while drunk, Hsw.cn reports. The sedan hit three cars on Monday night and three people, including a child, were hurt and had to be hospitalised. The officer tried to flee the scene but was apprehended and arrested.
Fireman fetish exposed
A homeless man with a penchant for watching firefighters in action was arrested for setting vehicles ablaze, Hsw.cn reports. The man said he enjoyed hearing the fire engine’s siren and watching firemen put out the blaze. Police said the man started at least three fires this month that destroyed over a dozen cars.
SHANXI
Bonus with a bang
A Jincheng official was issued a serious warning by the city’s graft-busters on Tuesday after he gave his staff fireworks as a year-end bonus, the Shanxi Daily reports. The official, from Zezhou’s work safety bureau, gave his subordinates almost 400,000 yuan of firecrackers using the government budget, the authorities said, adding that his behaviour violated party discipline.
Game over for tomb raider
A tomb raider in Lin county turned himself in to police last week after an accident while raiding a tomb in Inner Mongolia killed his two teammates, the Shanxi Evening News reports. The 49-year-old said the team of three had entered an ancient tomb in Erdos last month and found a large number of bronze wares, but the tomb collapsed as they were moving out the items and only he managed to escape. He said he surrendered himself and the loot out of guilt.
SICHUAN
Burglar hits the roof
A burglar broke into a Chengdu supermarket by cutting a hole in the building’s roof, the West China City Daily reports. The shopkeeper turned up on Monday morning to find three huge holes on the roof of the supermarket and more than 10,000 yuan in cash as well as 50,000 yuan worth of wine and laptops missing. Motion detectors and burglar alarms on the doors proved ineffective, she said. Police are investigating.
Spotted: snow leopards
Wild snow leopards have been captured on camera at the Feng Tong Zhai nature reserve in Yaan for the first time, Chinanews.com reports. The blurry black-and-white photo was taken by an infrared camera at more than 4,000 metres above sea level, said a manager at the reserve. Snow leopards, which are extremely rare and an endangered species, have a global population of around 4,000, with half of them in China, according to the global conservation body WWF.
The Chinese man who surprised commuters by riding on the Beijing subway with a "watermelon head mask" appeared to be drunk. Photo: SCMP Pictures
BEIJING
‘Melon head’ on metro
A man who rode the Beijing subway with a “watermelon head mask” was taken into custody by police, Beijing Morning Post reports. The man – who had on a mask made out of watermelon rind with carved holes for the eyes and mouth – was holding bottles of alcohol and walked unsteadily, passengers said. Police took him off the train after railway authorities were notified.
Nail found in bun
A woman injured her mouth after biting into a bun that contained a nail, Beijing Evening News reports. She felt a sharp pain when she took a bite out of the bun, bought from a 7-Eleven store, and promptly spat it out. She found her mouth bleeding and a 1cm-long nail in the bun. A representative from the factory that made the bun apologised to the woman and vowed to investigate the matter.
CHONGQING
Traffic-stopping cat
A lost cat on a busy road in downtown Chongqing caused a half-hour traffic jam, Chongqing Shang Bao reports. Drivers had to slow down or stop completely to avoid the wandering feline, witnesses said. Police caught the cat and a volunteer cared for it before its owner arrived.
Gardeners put out blaze
Two gardeners risked their lives putting out the flames on a burning cargo truck that had caught fire, preventing an explosion in downtown Chongqing, Chongqing Evening News reports. The pair emptied their gardening truck’s water tank, spraying eight tonnes of water on the blazing vehicle that had stopped outside a school. Firefighters said an explosion could have injured pupils.
GUIZHOU
Illiterate smoker fined
A migrant worker was fined after he smoked in a train toilet, triggering the smoke detector and delaying the train for several minutes, Guizhou Du Shi Bao reports. The man, from a remote Guizhou village, said he did not understand the warning message broadcasted in Putonghua on the high-speed train travelling from Nanning, Guangxi province, to Guiyang. The man, who neither reads nor speaks Putonghua, was fined 500 yuan (HK$630) – half his monthly salary – but escaped jail.
Hungry dog-hunters held
Two men were arrested by police in Zunyi for killing four dogs with poisoned arrows, Guizhou Du Shi Bao reports. Police found the dead dogs, a bow and poison-coated arrows in the trunk of the pair’s car. The men said they killed the dogs, which belonged to nearby farmers, because they were hungry and craved dog meat.
HAINAN
Preschoolers on the rise
The number of kindergarteners in Hainan rose more than 70 per cent from 2010 to last year because more schools were available, Hainan Daily reports. From 2010 to 2014, the number of kindergartens increased from about 1,000 to more than 1,800, and the pupil population rose from 180,000 to 310,000. The provincial government said it had spent over a billion yuan building new schools across the province, especially in the rural areas, so that more children could receive early education.
Hit by runaway car
A woman in Haikou was hit and injured by a car without a driver, Hinews.cn reports. The sedan slid down a slope at high speed and hit the 50-year-old woman who was standing on a sidewalk, witnesses said. She was hospitalised and treated for bone fractures. The car owner said he had applied the handbrake before parking the car outside a supermarket. Police confirmed that the handbrake was on and are investigating the accident.
HEBEI
Turtle invasion
The Shijiazhuang zoo has received more than 20 invasive species of turtles from residents over the past few months, Sjzdaily.com.cn reports. The residents had given them to the zoo after realising that their pets were alligator snapping turtles that eat native fish and damage local ecology. A zoo worker said one person dropped off six turtles at a go. The turtles, which are native to the United States, grow quickly, eat a lot, and can become highly aggressive.
Coins for a new ride
A man in Shijiazhuang bought a car with 150kg worth of coins, Yanzhao Evening News reports. Workers said they spent hours counting out the money until their hands cramped up. The man, who paid almost 20,000 yuan in one-yuan and 50-cent coins, said he had more coins at home and planned on spending them slowly rather than depositing them at a bank.
HUBEI
Queue for a living
Three people were arrested for providing queueing services at a public hospital in Wuhan, Xinhua reports. The trio charged patients between 40 and 60 yuan to get them a queue number and stand in line for them. They made a total of 60,000 yuan from their business last year, but police said the service was illegal as it disrupted social order.
Kiss of life – not
A seven-month-old boy in Wuhan developed high fever and an infectious disease because his parents kissed him too often, Chutian Metropolis Daily reports. His parents would press their lips to his every few minutes, transmitting a virus that was harmless to adults but that affected children, his doctor said. The boy’s symptoms went away soon after his parents stopped kissing him.
HUNAN
Well-hung pork
A Changsha resident hung salted pork on a tree in a street because he had no space to dry the meat at home, Xiao Xiang Chen Bao reports. The man, who said he had been doing so for years, nailed more than 20kg of pork on the trunk of the tree, just within arm’s reach. Other residents said they were concerned the man’s behaviour would harm the tree as the nails he used were long and thick.
Adventurous toddler
A one-and-a-half-year-old toddler shocked Changsha residents by leaving home alone and boarding a bus, Xiao Xiang Chen Bao reports. The bus driver and passengers were surprised to see him and the driver spent a day trying to locate his parents. Police said the boy’s parents owned a grocery store near the bus station and that they had reported him missing.
LIAONING
Wrong measure used
A Shenyang primary-school pupil’s mother found out that his ruler had inaccurate measurements after he failed to score full marks in a maths exam, Liaoshen Evening News reports. The mother informed the child’s teacher, who then discovered that the rulers her pupils were using all gave different measurements, varying by as much as 3mm. A stationery shop owner who sold some of the rulers said no one had ever asked about the discrepancies.
Teen cuts off own hand
A teenager in Dandong chopped off his hand with a kitchen knife after arguing with his parents, Shenyang Evening News reports. The 14-year-old only child had quarrelled with his parents before running into the kitchen, grabbing a knife and cutting off his left hand. He was rushed to hospital, where his hand was reconnected after a 10-hour operation. While recovering in hospital, he ran away but was found by a taxi driver who took him to the police before he was eventually returned to his parents.
A man bumped into his former girlfriend recently but but the reunion quickly turned sour when he demanded she return his SIM card, which she then swallowed. Photo: Bloomberg
SHANDONG
Down the hatch
A woman in Yantai swallowed a SIM card that belonged to her ex-boyfriend, Shm.com.cn, reports. The two bumped into each other on a street but the reunion quickly broke into a quarrel when the man demanded she return his SIM card, which she then swallowed. The man asked police to help return the card, which he said held many telephone numbers. But police refused, citing the “technical difficulties” involved.
Rash consequences
A Yantai man suffers an extreme allergy every time he goes on blind dates set up by his parents, Shm.com.cn reports. The factory engineer, 35, breaks out in a rash all over his body before or after a date, which are never successful. Doctors believe his condition is psychosomatic. They say there is not much he can do other than learn to relax.
ANHUI
Game nearly fatal
A man playing with a toddler while driving rear-ended a truck in Hefei on Thursday, the Anhui Business Post reports. The driver was entertaining his two-year-old son who was sitting on his lap, local traffic police said. He threw the boy on to the backseat before the collision. The car was badly damaged but no one was injured.
Scrooge comes unstuck
A man in Hefei received a warning from police on Thursday for making a false report on a missing wallet, the Anhui Business News reports. The man did not want to lend money to a friend so told him his wallet had been stolen. The friend took the news seriously and dragged him to a police station to file a report. Unable to answer the questions convincingly, the man admitted that the wallet was still on him.
CHONGQING
Sobering moment
A driver in Yubei district who chased a truck driver for 5km to demand damages after a collision changed his tune quickly when police asked him if he had been drinking, Cqnews.net reports. On Saturday, traffic police arrived at the scene to find a damaged car, which had crashed into a truck, with the driver yelling at the truck driver. When asked if he had been drinking, he suddenly offered to drop the complaint. When asked to take a breathalyser test, he ran off but was captured and charged with reckless driving.
Fake cigarette cache
A shopkeeper has been arrested in Yuzhong district for selling fake cigarettes despite going to great lengths to conceal them, the Chongqing Morning Post reports. Officers went to a tobacco shop last week after a customer complained of been sold counterfeit cigarettes. The storekeeper kept the counterfeits in a concealed, locked compartment, which he opened with a remote control hidden in the heel of a shoe.
GUANGDONG
Police detained man
A man wrongly arrested in mid-2013 because he had the same name as a suspect remains in detention in Raoping county, the Haixi Morning Post reports. The man was arrested in August, 2013 after police busted a gang selling counterfeit cigarettes. The gang gave up the name of an accomplice. Last week, a judge allowed prosecutors to withdraw their case, and said the man was free to go when he signed a document confirming the charges against him had been dropped. But the man first wants police to apologise, which they refuse to do.
Taxi drivers in knife fight
A motorcycle taxi driver died and another was injured in a knife fight over a customer in Dongguan , Nandu.com reports. The two were bickering over who had the right to a customer when one driver pulled out a knife. The other driver ran off and returned with a knife and they started attacking each other. Both men were taken to hospital where one later died.
HEBEI
Rare drought hurts plants
A rare winter drought is damaging plants in Shijiazhuang , the Yanzhao Metropolis News reports. Plants in north China need less water in winter due to low temperatures, but the city has experienced an unusually warm winter, which dries out soil more quickly. For the first time in decades, the city has launched an emergency watering plan.
Wandering off message
The Baixiang county government had suspended an official weibo account on sex education, the Yanzhao Metropolis News reports. The account, managed by the county’s Communist Youth League, carried posts on such like “best sex positions” and “choice of condom”.
JIANGSU
Fake bank, real robbers
A fake bank in Nanjing complete with LED screens and people dressed like bank staff obtained almost 200 million yuan in deposits over a year, Xinhua reports. About 200 people were duped by its promises of impossibly high interest rates. A businessman from Hangzhou deposited 12 million dollars from his company, but he stopped receiving interest after four months. He went to Nanjing to demand his money, but was rebuffed. Police discovered the bank had no permits to operate as a financial institution. The bank branded itself as a “cooperative”.
Hotpot dinner a knockout
A group of diners enjoying a hotpot dinner at a restaurant in Nanjing were poisoned by carbon monoxide fumes, the Modern Express reports. The nine people were eating in a 10-square metre, unventilated room with a coal fire. As they got up to pay, two people fainted and the others began vomiting. The next day, the two customers who fainted went to a hospital and were diagnosed with carbon monoxide poisoning. In 2013, two children, aged six and nine, were admitted to hospital in Luhe district after they fainted while having hotpot at a poorly ventilated restaurant.
LIAONING
Road map of ruin
The city government of Shenyang has listed 50 roads in the worst state of repair with promises of fixing them by the end of this year, Shenyang Daily reports. Most of the roads are in the city centre. Some were in such a bad shape that even the footpaths were considered too bumpy for pedestrians, the report said.
One-man crime wave
A suspect who broke into 500 cars in five months has been arrested in Shenyang, the Shenyang Evening News reports. The man, 42, could open a window in seconds with a small hammer and screw driver. He stole cash and items worth more than 10,000 yuan in total, police said. He did so because he could not find a job.
SHAANXI
Lethal concoction
Two charlatan doctors in Yulin were arrested last week after a farmer they treated died, Shaanxi Television reports. The 71-year-old woman caught a cold and suspected she was possessed by evil spirits. She took herbal medicines prescribed by the doctors and died in five minutes, according to her family.
Traffic cop assaulted
A motorcyclist in Hanzhong has been detained for injuring a traffic police officer with his helmet, Hsw.cn reports. The man, 33, was stopped by police who found his driver’s licence had expired. He became angry when told his vehicle would be confiscated and smacked the head of one officer with his helmet. The policeman was in hospital with concussion.
Chinese prisoner Wang Dong - jailed for six years for kidnapping - blackmailed 110,000 yuan from three women after filming them naked as they chatted online. Photo: thepaper.cn
A Chinese prisoner used an app on his mobile phone to film three naked women – including the wife of a prison officer – who chatted with him, and then blackmail 110,000 yuan (about HK$140,000) from two of them, prison authorities said yesterday.
The man – named by news portal thepaper.cn as Wang Dong, 28 – contacted women near the prison on WeChat using a smartphone given to him by a prison guard, the newspaper, New Culture News, reported on Wednesday .
The provincial prison authorities issued a statement after the scandal – first reported by New Culture News, on Wednesday – attracted widespread online attention.
New Culture News alleged the man, jailed for six years in Nehe prison, Heilongjiang province, in 2012, after being convicted of kidnapping – had relationships with seven women, including a wife of a police officer and a woman who worked in the prison.
One of the women had paid him 80,000 yuan, it said.
The newspaper report claimed the wife of the prison officer had been blackmailed into visiting him in prison and having sex with him.
The scandal was exposed after the officer reported the matter to the prison authorities.
Only three women had fallen victim to the prisoner and visited him in jail, said a report published yesterday following an investigation carried out by the Qinnen People’s Procuratorate and Nehe Prison – at the request of the Heilongjiang provincial authorities.
The prison authorities' report, published by China Youth Daily today, also confirmed that some prison guards had collaborated with Wang.
These women had been forced to do what the prisoner wanted after he had filmed them naked while chatting with him, the report said.
However, the investigation ruled out the possibility of the women having sex with the prisoner because they had met him only in a meeting room and dining room, during the day, while monitoring devices were in use and prison officers were present. This is the third scandal in recent months involving prisons in Heilongjiang.
In September three men jailed in Yanshou county escaped after killing a prison officer. Earlier this month a man in custody in Bayan county escaped when receiving medical care.
Smoke billows from the chimney of a factory in Foshan, which recorded Guangdong province's worst air quality in last year's final quarter. Photo: SCMP Pictures
GUANGDONG
Foshan: first in smog
Foshan recorded the worst air quality in the province in the final quarter of last year, the Yangcheng Evening News reports. Shanwei, in the east of the province, had the least smog, according to Guangdong’s environmental protection bureau.
Killed over grudge
A man from Shaoguan, who nursed a grudge for 20 years after a neighbour accused him of stealing, has been arrested for her murder, Guangzhou Daily reports. The woman had accused the man of stealing her television in the early 1990s, the report said. He is accused of going to her home one morning earlier this month, hitting her with an electric baton and then slashing her on the head and back with a cleaver.
BEIJING
Tycoon sues blogger
The founder of the e-commerce company JD.com, Liu Qiandong, is planning to sue a blogger for allegedly damaging his reputation, the Beijing Times reports. Liu said the blogger, a lecturer at Tianjin University of Commerce, claimed he had used the break-up of his relationship with his girlfriend as publicity to promote his company. Liu said this had hurt his and his firm’s reputation and he wanted an apology and 5 million yuan (HK$6.3 million) in damages.
Soccer test option
Children in the capital will be able to choose a soccer test as one of the examinations to get into high school, Xinhua reports. Other sports including volleyball were previously included among the tests children had to pass to enter school. The move is part of plans to improve soccer education and training in the capital. Football training centres will also be built and more foreign coaches employed in the city.
CHONGQING
Tree thefts for love
A man has been jailed for eight months for stealing 50 trees to show his love for his girlfriend, the Chongqing Morning Post reports. The woman was obsessed with the romantic film Under the Hawthorn Tree directed by Zhang Yimou so the man decided to steal trees of a similar species from three gardening firms. The girlfriend said she had no idea they were stolen until the police came to take them away.
Thailand tops poll
Official figures have confirmed that Thailand was the favourite overseas destination for travellers from the municipality last year, the news website Cqnews.net reports. Data from the local tourism bureau showed the more than 1.2 million people from Chongqing went abroad last year and nearly 40 per cent went to Thailand. Xinhua reported in November that nearly 40 flights a week left for the Southeast Asian nation from the municipality. Visitors enjoyed Thailand’s warm climate and low costs. Numbers visiting Hong Kong and Taiwan largely stayed unchanged. Travellers visiting Japan tripled in number compared with the previous year.
HENAN
Mother ‘sold her baby’
A mother has been charged with conspiring with a doctor to sell her baby for 42,000 yuan, Xinhua reported. The mother-in-law of the woman initially notified the police in Henan that she suspected the boy had been sold. The woman had previously told the family that the baby died soon after birth. A couple paid for the child and 7,000 yuan went to the obstetrician who helped find the buyers.
Heavy snow on the way
The province is expecting heavy snow tomorrow, which is likely to bring disruption to the roads, the news website Dehe.cn reports. Temperatures could fall to as low as minus 12 degrees Celsius in mountainous areas in the west.
JIANGSU
‘Pants building’ delay
The Gate of the Orient skyscraper in Suzhou is unlikely to be completed by the end of this month, the fourth time a deadline for completion has been missed, Xinhua reports. Construction began in 2004. The 300 metre tall building is nicknamed the “pants building” because it looks like a giant pair of trousers. The developer has had repeated financial problems. The report did not say what the revised deadline was for completion.
More surveillance on lines
A network of 4,600 surveillance cameras has been set up on five subway lines in Nanjing, the Modern Express reports. Police said the surveillance system would help ensure safety during the forthcoming Lunar New Year holiday. Travellers have been warned to keep an eye out for thieves around the festive period.
SHAANXI
Panda dies of distemper
A third panda has died of the viral disease canine distemper at a wild animal breeding and protection centre in Xian, the news website Chinanews.com reports. Another panda is in a critical condition with the illness. Experts said the disease, which affects dogs and other animals, was often fatal in pandas.
Fake medicines scam
Three people have been arrested in Xian for allegedly masterminding a fake medicine and health products scam, Huashang Daily reports. Police found more than 200,000 packs of fake medicines, eye drops and diet tea in a house in a suburb of the city. One batch of fake diet tea was destined for sale in South Africa.
SICHUAN
Gold robber caught
A man was arrested in Leshan after he allegedly robbed a jewellers shop and took gold jewellery worth over 600,000 yuan, the Chengdu Economic Daily reports. Police said the suspect, 33, was released from prison in September and broke into the store brandishing what appeared to be a replica gun. The robbery lasted only two minutes. Police recovered most of the jewellery, including 124 gold necklaces, 47 bracelets and three pendants.
Fiery test of exam focus
Pupils at a middle school in Cangxi county near Guangyuan stayed in their classroom and completed their examinations on Friday morning after more than 100 teachers rushed to help put out a fire in a five-storey canteen, the news website Scol.com.cn reports. Firefighters were called to put out the blaze. There were no reports of any injuries.
ZHEJIANG
Housewife drug takers
Police in Wenzhou raided a karaoke club and arrested 20 people, mainly middle-aged housewives, for drug offences, the news website 66wz.com reports. Police found powder and liquids suspected to be the drugs ketamine and GHB, also known as liquid ecstasy. The suspects, including 16 women aged 38 to 54, told police they were bored with housework and wanted to try something different. They met regularly for a drugs party under the guise of going to a sports meeting. Police are still tracing the source of the drugs. The karaoke club has been ordered to close down.
Business incentive scheme
Hangzhou has rolled out a series of financial initiatives to encourage more people to start their own business, Xinhua reports. Entrepreneurs from overseas could receive as much as 5 million yuan to open new business in the city, with up to 20 million yuan in financial support. Housing allowances ranging from 600,000 yuan to 1 million yuan are also on offer. The city has also set up a 100 million yuan fund for university graduate entrepreneurs.
Staff at a local hospital in central China took to the streets on Sunday to mourn the death of their colleague, an orthopaedic surgeon who was killed during a row with a drunken patient at the weekend.
Photos circulating on Weibo show a long queue of doctors and nurses in work clothes marching in the streets of Luanchuan with banners that read “Mourn the murdered doctor, Jia Binbin” and “[We] strongly condemn violent attacks on doctors and [demand] the lives of medical staff be protected. “
One banner was signed by “the staff of the People’s Hospital in Luanchuan county,” a local hospital in Henan province where Jia worked as an orthopedic surgeon, before being killed in and accident during the early hours of Saturday morning.
The Luanchuan county government announced the findings of an initial police investigation on its website on Sunday, a day after the incident.
Police said Jia was on duty at the hospital’s orthopaedics department on Saturday when a man named Zhang Yanlong, accompanied by his cousin Li Yulong, arrived for treatment for a broken leg.
A fight broke out between Jia and Li around midnight after Jia went over to warn Li, who was verbally abusing a nurse, not to disturb the other patients.
According to the Qianjiang Evening News Jia received four or five heavy blows to the head during the ensuing argument with Li and had to fight back to defend himself.
“[Li] started [the fight]. I checked the CCTV footage," Wang Shuo, director of the hospital’s general office was quoted as saying.
During the tussle, the two men slammed into a lift door, which was thrown open, and both men fell from the 15th floor to the first floor, where the lift was stationary.
By the time the pair were rescued from the lift shaft, Li had been declared dead. Jia died later during emergency surgery.
The police report mentioned that Li and Zhang had been drinking with friends before Zhang broke his leg and was taken to hospital. The newspaper quoted Wang as saying that six drunken men initially came to the hospital, including two cousins.
“They had already been arguing for a while in the emergency department,” Wang said.
Wang also said that Li’s family had later gone to the hospital to demand compensation for their son’s death.
Zhang Yanlong said that he and his cousin saw no one at the inpatient service and yelled at nurses after waiting for a long time, the Beijing Times reported.
Police said they would be looking further into this case.
Jia’s death and photos of the protest triggered a furious reaction from doctors online, who have increasingly been on the receiving end of often deadly violence in recent years and find hospitals no longer safe to work in.
“Is this a dispute or a violent attack on doctors?” asked Zhang Xiaodong, asked director of the gastroenterology department at Beijing Caner Hospital, on her microblog.
“The doctor was beaten and pushed into the lift shaft by a drunken relative of patient. He fell to his death … and the family of the perpetrator is now demanding compensation from the hospital! “Sun Hongtao, a doctor at Beijing Fuwai Hospital, said on his microblog.
The average number of assaults on doctors in China surged to 27.3 per hospital in 2012, up from 20.6 in 2008, according to a survey by Chinese Hospital Association, and more than 17,000 violent incidents against hospitals and medical staff were recorded by China’s Ministry of Health in 2010, comparing to 10,000 in 2005.
In a widely publicised incident in 2012, a patient suffering from ankylosing spondylitis and tuberculosis killed an intern who had not been involved in his treatment and injured three more people with a knife after he thought he received a misdiagnosis from a hospital in northeastern Harbin.
The violence highlights a deepening unease between doctors and patients, with many doctors complaining about being overworked and underpaid, while patients often feel dissatisfied with the levels of service at hospitals and high costs due to insufficient government subsidies. Write quote
Beijing police warned women in 2013 not to wear miniskirts, hot pants or skimpy clothing in the summer to avoid sexual harassment. Photo: Reuters
BEIJING
Anti-harassment idea
Two political advisers have called for women-only carriages to reduce problems of rush-hour sexual harassment on the Beijing subway, Xinhua reports. They proposed the idea at the annual meeting of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which ended on Monday. Police warned women in 2013 not to wear miniskirts, hot pants or skimpy clothing in the summer to avoid sexual harassment. In the 10 years to 2013, the annual number of subway passengers in the capital rose by six times to 3.2 billion.
Cemetery spooks residents
Residents have been spooked by the growth of a graveyard beside their apartments in Fangshan district, The Beijing News reports. One man said he could read the inscription on the graves 10 metres from his window. The local government told residents the graveyard – separated from the homes by a barrier – had been part of a nearby village for a century, so there was nothing they could do.
GUANGXI
Driver crashes into hotel
Staff stared in shock as an alleged drunk driver smashed his car through the revolving doors of a Longsheng county hotel at 9.30pm on Monday, turned around and drove out, Gxnews.com.cn reports. No one was hurt in the incident, which happened when few people were inside the lobby. Police later detained a man, who claimed to be the driver, and said he had driven into the hotel lobby for a thrill.
Smuggler’s death sentence
The leader of a gang of 24 people who smuggled 22 children from Vietnam to be sold in China has been sentenced to death, Chinanews.com reports. The others received sentences ranging from fines of 1,000 yuan to life imprisonment, it said. The gang’s leader smuggled the children after hearing that ethnic minority families in Guangdong were keen to adopt children.
JIANGSU
Court orders visits to mum
A woman identified as Zhou, in her 80s, sued three of her children for not visiting her enough, the Modern Express reports. Zhou, who has three sons and a daughter, lives with her richest son. She told a Nanjing court the others had not increased the frequency of their visits as she aged and her health deteriorated. The court ruled each of the three children must visit her once a month.
‘Female’ conman jailed
A man pretended to be a woman to con 7,900 yuan (HK$9,900) from online suitors keen to help a “damsel in distress”, the Yangtse Evening Post reports. The Beitang District People’s court jailed the man, identified as Wang, for six months, fined him 1,000 yuan and ordered him to repay the 7,900 yuan. The court was told he lost his job so posed as a woman on social media to borrow money “for rent”. Four men who sent him money alerted police after he shut his social media accounts.
SHANDONG
‘Bitten finger’ reattached
Doctors have managed to reattach a woman’s little finger after it was almost bitten off by her brother-in-law during a fight, news website gcxa.cn reports. The woman, identified as Wang, from Yinan county, claimed she had been hit on the head and her hand bitten as she tried to defend herself and her mother. She claimed he had been violent towards her sister and her mother in the past.
Sleepless thief
A man accused of stealing random items worth a total of 10,000 yuan while unable to sleep was caught by police in Mazhanzhen last Sunday, the news website langya.cn reports. Neighbours of the man, 59, and street vendors had reported the theft of numerous items left lying around since November, including ladders and sausages.
SHANGHAI
Temple cancels festival
An historic temple cancelled its traditional Laba Festival celebrations after the deadly New Year’s Eve stampede in the city left 36 people dead, Xinhua reports. The 1,700 year-old Linyi Temple traditionally serves porridge to commemorate the Buddha. Now, instead, it will deliver about 300,000 bowls of porridge to welfare centres and nursing homes.
Pet adoption success
Shanghai hosted its regular pet adoption event on Sunday, China Daily online reports. The stray animals had bright yellow bandanas placed around their necks as people came to play with them and maybe offer them homes. The report said more than 1,100 stray cats and dogs had been successfully adopted since the monthly events began a year ago.
SICHUAN
‘Assault’ teacher demoted
A secondary school teacher in Yilong county was demoted and docked a month’s pay for allegedly hitting a student with a cable, The Beijing News reports. He allegedly struck the student on the back with the cable after hearing that the student had been in a fight. The student was later taken to hospital. A picture was then circulated online, reportedly showing five wounds on the student’s back. But a spokesperson for the school claimed the picture had been “Photoshopped”.
Doctors save choking man
A Chengdu man, 33, was rushed to hospital after nearly choking on a jackfruit seed while playing a video game, West China City Daily reports. Doctors managed to force the seed, about the size of a man’s little finger, down his throat into his stomach on Sunday night and he was able to start breathing again.
TIANJIN
Two die in bus crash
Two people died and 10 others were injured after a bus carrying tourists from Henan province crashed into a height restriction barrier on a main road in Tianjin’s Wuqing district on Monday morning, chinanews.com reports. It said thick morning fog meant driving conditions were difficult at the time and the coach driver may not have seen the barrier.
‘Thoughtful’ phone robber
A robber who took 400 yuan from a woman at knife-point, then agreed to delete all the personal data on her mobile phone before stealing it as well, news website tianjinwe.com reports. The man, who attacked the woman in Tianjin as she walked home last December, restored the factory settings on her phone and handed over her SIM card before fleeing. The report said the suspect was now in police custody, and had allegedly robbed more than 10 other women.
ZHEJIANG
‘10-year con’ finally ends
An alleged conman in Yunhe county was caught after living for 10 years off the monthly “investment” payments given to him by a liquor store owner, Qianjiang Evening News reports. He approached the store owner in 2004, and convinced him and his family and friends to invest in a fake business, which he claimed a friend had started. The storeowner initially handed over 60,000 yuan, then made regular payments – sometimes totalling thousands of yuan – despite never receiving any dividends. The conman was only caught when the store owner became suspicious and called the police.
‘Drugs to hire girlfriend’
A man, 22, from Shaoxing, used methamphetamines to pay a woman to pretend to be his girlfriend to impress his parents, so they would pay him 50,000 yuan to clear his debts, Qianjiang Evening News reports. Police raided his home last week and both he and his girlfriend allegedly tested positive for methamphetamines. Items, allegedly including drugs, were also confiscated.
More than 80,000 visitors went to Beijing's Palace Museum on 42 days last year. Photo: Xinhua
BEIJING
Museum limits visitors
The capital's Palace Museum will limit the number of daily visitors to 80,000, Xinhua reports. The museum said the restriction would help minimise security risks and damage to the building, but did not say when the limit would take effect. It said more than 80,000 visitors went to the museum on 42 days last year. Visitors will be encouraged to book advanced tickets online, which in the low season will cost only 20 yuan each.
Demand for 20m yuan refund
More than 380 tourists have called on Beijing tourism commission to help return’ deposits totalling about 20 million yuan (HK$25 million) taken by a travel agency, China Radio International reports. Before a trip to Dubai, a Beijing resident with the surname of Wang was told by the agency that he had to pay a large deposit in case of accidents in Dubai. The agency never returned his deposit although he returned safely. The commission has ordered the agency to return all the money and suspended its business.
GUANGDONG
Policeman’s ear bitten off
A policeman had part of his ear bitten off on January 4 after detaining a quarrelling couple, the New Express reports. As police tried to separate the feuding Foshan, couple at a local police station, the woman, named Liao, kicked the policeman, ripped his clothing, and bit off 2 centimetres of flesh from his ear, it said. She was held for obstructing official duties and her case sent to prosecutors. The injured policeman is undergoing treatment.
Expats’ health service call
Expatriates in Shenzhen have called for improvements in the city’s medical services to help make the city more habitable, the Shenzhen Daily reports. Poor sanitation, long queues, and bad English among medical staff were only some of the problems they faced when going to the doctor in Shenzhen, they said. Despite the city’s five-star hotels and luxury stores, it could never be a truly international city unless it improved its medical service for foreigners.
HENAN
Wanted: one kind daughter
A well-to-do elderly woman put up a “Wanted” poster for a daughter, the Henan Business Daily reports. The woman, 68, from Zhengzhou – a doctor and director of a local clinic – said that she owned four homes, but regretted that she and her ailing husband had never had children to share it with. So she put up posters saying she was looking for a kind, considerate, loyal, filial “daughter” under the age of 40. She said if her new “daughter” pleased her, then she might inherit her homes.
Congress turns austere
The usual red carpets, fresh flowers, and complimentary stationery were missing from this week’s meeting of the Henan people’s congress to emphasise the importance of the nation’s austerity campaign, news website hnr.cn reports. It said paper flowers were used instead of fresh flowers, and pencils and pens – traditionally placed on the tables – were no longer provided. Only a cup of tea and the meeting’s documents were provided.
HUNAN
Innocent man wins payout
A man from Loudi, wrongfully imprisoned for robbery for more than five years, has been awarded 460,000 yuan in damages, the Southern Metropolis Daily reports. He was found guilty of armed robbery by a district court and jailed for 10 1/2 years and fined 20,000 yuan. After a first appeal, his sentence was reduced to eight years. Later he appealed again and was declared innocent by the Loudi Intermediate People’s Court and released. He sued for damages, and won the settlement for his loss of freedom, the psychological damage he suffered, and the cost of his legal fees and health insurance. The man said he was neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and now simply wanted to get on with his life.
‘Cat’ burglars strike
Two burglars in Zhuzhou climbed 16 storeys using an outdoor water pipe to break into six flats, news website Rednet.cn reports. One resident woke up to find her laptop computer and wallet missing from her living room after the Sunday morning break-ins. After reporting the crime she found other flats, between the fourth and 16th floors, had been burgled, too. The caretaker said surveillance cameras showed two burglars climbed a tree to reach a platform on the side of the building before scaling the pipe.
SHAANXI
Kidnapped girl finds family
A 15-year girl found her parents nine years after being kidnapped and sold, Huashang Daily reports. The girl vanished outside her primary school in Xian in 2005, when her father arrived late to collect her. The family kept searching; in 2010, her father borrowed 200,000 yuan, after using up his savings, to drive halfway across the country. She was sold to a childless family for 10,000 yuan, but also kept searching online for her family. Someone in Chengdu saw her posts and alerted her family last year.
Speedy smash-and-grab
A robber in a black balaclava took only two minutes to steal gold jewellery worth 300,000 yuan from a shop in Dingbian county on Tuesday, Huashang Daily reports. He threatened staff with a knife, then grabbed the jewels after smashing glass cabinets before quickly escaping. Police are investigating.
SHANXI
‘Teacher’s assault’ inquiry
A teacher who grew angry when her nine-year-old Shanxi student forgot to finish his Chinese homework, allegedly injured him after kicking him in the groin, The Beijing News reports. The teacher has been suspended and placed under investigation, and has agreed to pay the boy’s hospital expenses, it said.
Pen artist’s on the ball
A Linfen artist’s finely detailed drawings of stone lion statues, landscapes and temples – all done with a blue ballpoint pen – have attracted huge praise online. The CCTV weibo page shared more than a dozen drawings, first posted on the artist’s weibo page. It said that since the lines could not be erased, it meant the artist had been unable to put a single stroke out of place.
SICHUAN
Feet-washing homework
Students at Sichuan Normal University’s College of Liberal Arts were asked to wash their parents’ feet as their homework over the winter break, Chengdu Economic Daily reports. An administrator, who thought of the assignment, said a father had told her about his daughter, who left for university and contacted him only for money. It had made her realise the need for students to respect their parents more.
Mother and son reunited
A man in Jianyang – taken away from his parents more than 30 years ago by the Family Planning Bureau because he was the second child born during the one-child policy – has traced his parents again, The Beijing News reports. His parents already had a three-year-old son when he was born in 1983. Although they borrowed money to pay the fine, officials said they were not allowed to keep him and took him away. The man, now 31, who was adopted by a childless couple, never gave up hope of finding his real parents. After launching appeals on TV, and issuing 50,000 leaflets, his mother spotted one of the leaflets, telephoned him and they have been reunited.
ZHEJIANG
Love-sick ‘kidnap’ claim
A love-sick teenager from Pujiang, told police her parents were kidnappers in an effort to stay with her former boyfriend, Xinhua reports. The girl, 17, surnamed Bao, refused to accept it when her 15-year-old boyfriend from Ningbo, broke up with her. After she continued to travel to see him to patch things up, he called the police. After Bao’s parents came to Ningbo to take her home, she screamed to passers-by she had been kidnapped, and they alerted police.
Millionaire’s body found
he body of a millionaire who vanished two years ago has finally been found – inside a cage at the bottom of Qianxia Lake, in Zhejiang province, the Beijing Times reports. The millionaire, named Zhang, of Inner Mongolia, took out a 26 million yuan loan from a man called Hu. He was unable to pay it back, and was kidnapped by Hu, who demanded his family provide a ransom of 50 million yuan. Although the family paid part of the money, Hu kept Zhang in captivity inside a cage, and later dropped it into the lake. Hu was arrested in March 2013 after going on the run and hiding in Bangkok.
